Two states? Many problems

Re “A two-state standoff,” editorial, May 2

Iran’s disbanding its nuclear weapons program is surely not dependent on resolving the Israeli-Palestinian issue. Iran wants to be the dominant power in the Middle East, and it wants nuclear weapons so that it can threaten not only Israel but other states in the region.

If Iran’s motivation to develop WMD was to effect resolution of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, Saudi Arabia and Egypt wouldn’t have grave concerns. King Abdullah II is not being straight on this issue either. He doesn’t want a Palestinian state between Jordan and Israel because of the threat to Jordan that a Palestinian state would pose to him.

When a Palestinian authority comes into being that can negotiate and commit to a peaceful resolution, then a two-state solution can occur. Until then, all other issues are chaff.

Emanuel R. Baker

Los Angeles

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President Obama, The Times and many others throw out the term “two-state solution” without really thinking about it. The problem isn’t that the Palestinians want their own country and can’t have it; the problem is that the Palestinians -- and other Arab countries -- want the elimination of Israel and can’t have it.

Simply creating a Palestinian state in which the Palestinians (and other Arab countries) still want the elimination of Israel is no solution.

The only real solution to the problem is the Palestinians -- and other Arab countries -- accepting Israel’s right to exist in peace. Once this happens, an independent Palestinian state can quickly follow, as it could have many times over the years. The only solution we should be talking about is the “Palestinian acceptance of Israel solution.”

P.J. Gendel

Beverly Hills

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Your well-intentioned editorial fails to identify the determining elements in the conflict.

Put bluntly, America undermined its own centerpiece policy of a two-state solution by its steadfast and decisive diplomatic, financial and arms aid that enabled Israel to build its huge settlements in the West Bank.

Without our unrivaled aid, Israel could not have pursued the drive started by an extremist Cabinet three decades ago to gain sovereignty over all the Holy Land. Its major expansion into the West Bank negated the chances for a two-state solution, doomed Palestinians to a permanent underclass status and ensured a dynamic of unending violence.

Benjamin Solomon Evanston, Ill.